[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 129 (Tuesday, September 4, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1788]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      TRIBUTE TO VIOLET MOORHOUSE, U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT A. BRADY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 4, 2007

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, as chairman of the 
Committee on House Administration and of the Joint Committee on 
Printing, I want to recognize Ms. Violet Moorhouse, a long-time map 
cataloger at the Government Printing Office, who retired on July 31, 
2007, following nearly 40 years of dedicated service.
  Ms. Moorhouse went to work at the GPO in 1968 committed to serve the 
public, a commitment strengthened by a desire to do something positive 
following the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and 
Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. During her long career, Ms. 
Moorhouse worked in almost every type of library, including public, 
school, university, and special libraries. Prior to GPO, she cataloged 
documents at the New York Public Library. After working on cataloging 
general monographs, Ms. Moorhouse turned to map cataloging when maps 
were brought into GPO's Federal Depository Library Program in the 
1970's. She cataloged all types of Federal maps, including serial maps 
and maps on microfiche and CD-ROM from the U.S. Geological Survey, the 
U.S. Forest Service, and the National Park Service. She pioneered many 
currently used cataloging practices for maps while welcoming advances 
in technology and cataloging that allowed more timely access to these 
important materials. She also trained incoming librarians in map 
cataloging, and was generous in sharing her expertise and detailed 
knowledge of the nuances of Federal maps with others.
  During her career, Ms. Moorhouse contributed more than 100,000 
bibliographic records to the Catalog of United States Government 
Publications and initiated many geographic name authority records in 
the Library of Congress authority database, providing a deep 
contribution to the field of geophysical data. Her prodigious talents 
were so valued that in 1998 she received the American Library 
Association's Map and Geography Round Table (MAGERT) award, which is 
presented to librarians for outstanding service to map librarianship. 
Her articles on GPO map cataloging appeared regularly in the MAGERT 
publication ``base line'' and in GPO's ``Administrative Notes'' 
newsletter. She also wrote the chapter on the Superintendent of 
Documents classification of maps in GPO's Classification manual. Ms. 
Moorhouse was active in the ALA's Government Documents Round Table and 
in the Cartographic Users Advisory Council, as well as in MAGERT.
  Ms. Moorhouse earned a B.A. in English and comparative literature at 
the University of California, Berkeley. She earned an M.L.S. while on a 
one-year fellowship at Berkeley. She also did graduate work in Far 
Eastern Regional studies, with an emphasis on China, at the University 
of the Pacific, and continued her academic studies in the computer and 
cartographic fields in Washington, D.C.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking Ms. Moorhouse for her 
significant contributions to the GPO through her distinguished service 
in the Federal Depository Library Program, and extending best wishes 
for her well-earned retirement.

                          ____________________